The guide
Guide to employee records in Switzerland
What must be kept, for how long, who can access it and how do you write a proper work certificate? This practical guide answers the questions Swiss SMEs ask about keeping employee records and the personnel file.
What should employee records contain?
The personnel file gathers the documents that establish and document the employment relationship: contract and amendments, job description, a copy of the residence permit for foreign employees, insurance registrations, review notes, any warnings, medical certificates for long absences and, at the end, the work certificate.
The nLPD sets a clear limit: only data needed to perform the contract may be included. Information about health, religion or private life does not belong there unless there is a justified exception. In Numezis, each document type has a declared purpose and a retention period; a document without a purpose is flagged. The result is a file that is complete for HR and defensible when an employee exercises their right of access.
How long should a personnel file be kept?
There is no single period, but several depending on the type of document. Payroll records, needed for accounting, are kept for ten years under CO 958f. Claims arising from the employment contract generally become time-barred after five years, which justifies keeping the contract, hour records and holiday balances at least that long. Data with no further use, on the other hand, must be deleted or anonymised.
Numezis assigns each category its own period. When the employee leaves, the file becomes read-only; when each period expires, the documents concerned are proposed for deletion, with explicit approval. You avoid two opposite risks: discarding too early a document you will need, and keeping indefinitely data the law asks you to stop holding.
How do you write a work certificate under CO 330a?
An employee can ask at any time for a full work certificate, describing the nature and duration of employment as well as the quality of work and conduct, or a simple confirmation limited to nature and duration. The certificate must be truthful and benevolent, with no coded unfavourable phrasing.
Numezis prepares the certificate from the file: roles held with their dates, activity rate, responsibilities from the job description and assessments from annual reviews. The agent proposes a draft in French, German, Italian or English, depending on the region or the employee’s language. The manager proofreads, adjusts and signs. An interim certificate can be issued at any time, for example when the manager or the role changes.
Can employees see their own personnel file?
Yes. The nLPD gives everyone the right to know what data about them is processed, and CO 328b limits processing to data relevant to the employment contract. Employees may therefore ask to see their file and have inaccurate information corrected.
In Numezis, the self-service portal shows each employee their personal data, contracts, payslips and balances. The manager’s internal notes are kept separate and are only accessible to authorised people, but they too are subject to the right of access. Correction requests arrive in a tracked queue, with the response date. You can answer an access request in a few minutes instead of pulling binders off the shelf.
How do you move from paper to digital employee records?
The transition happens in three stages. First, import the list of employees with their basic data from an Excel file or from the old payroll software. Next, digitise the existing documents: contracts, amendments, permits. Finally, set access roles and invite employees and managers.
Numezis speeds up the second stage: you upload a batch of PDFs, and the agent recognises the type of each document, matches it to the right employee and extracts the useful dates, such as the contract start or a permit expiry. Anything uncertain is put to you for confirmation. Signed paper originals remain valid; their digital copy lets you work day to day without opening the cabinet, from the office or on the move.